


We're Kind of a Thing

by reas_of_sunshine



Series: we're kind of a thing // tales of max and nikki, with some mayhem on the side [1]
Category: Camp Camp (Web Series)
Genre: (they be late teens), 5+1 Things, Aged-Up Character(s), Awkward Tension, Awkwardness, Bad Parenting, Bittersweet, Cute, F/M, Fluff, Future Fic, Mild Language, Mutual Pining, Summer Camp, Teenage Dorks, Trust Issues, Underage Drinking, other characters make cameos but they're not vital
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-06-08
Updated: 2018-07-15
Packaged: 2019-05-19 22:06:09
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 5
Words: 7,988
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14882088
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/reas_of_sunshine/pseuds/reas_of_sunshine
Summary: The five times Nikki said "I love you" in her own way and the one time she actually said it, all over the course of one summer.





	1. {prologue} interlude

**Author's Note:**

> my sweet baby girl nicolette deserves all the depth and characterization + my precious kiddo otp needs all the love  
> i gotta do everything around here

I love you.

Three simple words that carry such weight. Nikki knew it was an important saying. I love you was meant for families. And close friends. And people that loved each other (loved each other in the like-like sense). But the importance of those three words were warped for her.

“Candy, I love you! Please just listen!” was what Nikki sometimes what woke up to in the middle of the night.

And then the next morning, she was woken up by her mother—“C’mon, baby, Mommy’s got some extra dough, you wanna go somewhere?”—and for a while, that was love in Nikki’s eyes.

I love you.

Three simple words that got warped in the mind of a little girl.

“I love you, baby girl,” Candy would mumble, but only after she had a couple of those green and brown bottles.

She really thought her mom loved her. After all, Nikki got the cute overalls from Goodwill and had a roof over her head and on good nights, her mom actually cooked on the stove instead of in the microwave. That was love, wasn’t it?

I love you.

Three simple words that confused the little girl who wasn’t so little anymore.

“I love you guys,” Nikki sniffled when it was their last summer as campers. Everyone was too old. There was a group hug that David ‘encouraged’ (forced it, he definitely forced it). She really did love them. As best friends. She traded Skype names and emails and phone numbers with all of them.

She loved her best friends, the kids she had spent four summers with, the only kids who saw her as Nikki and decided to like her for that.

I love you.

Three little words that got caught in her throat, three little words that she wanted to scream at the top of her lungs, when she became a Junior Counselor for Camp Campbell — because David just couldn’t say goodbye to those kids for good — and saw Max, stubble-faced and poofy afro turned into dreadlocks and…

...and summer was just beginning.


	2. {1} i think we make a good couple

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Max isn't the best counselor but he tries. Nikki is a bad actress but a good liar.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> did you ask for teen makki with romantic tension? you didn't? well then what else are you here for?

There’s always one over-dramatic theater kid in the bunch. Without fail, every year, if they didn’t have a theater kid, then was it really Camp Campbell? There was always one over-dramatic, maybe slightly pretentious, obsessed with Shakespeare and Sondheim theater kid. But out of all the diverse camps available, Nikki had to say that theater camp was probably in her top five favorites.

Sure, it wasn’t adventure camp where they get to run around in the woods all day or spy camp where they got to blow stuff up and pick locks but theater camp was certainly fun.

It was especially fun when she got roped into scenes with the kids.

“Miss Nikki, you need to go more towards stage left,” came the bossy command from nine year old Lydia dressed in a dozen different variations of sequins.

Max’s groan came from stage right and Nikki followed the camper’s instruction.

“Places, everybody, places, we can’t have a masquerade ball if you’re all standing around like a bunch of sloths!” Lydia said, waving her hands as she spoke. “And all you heathens are distracting our Raoul and Christine!”

“Yeah, wouldn’t wanna break character,” Max droned—while never looking up from his phone.

Drowning in sequins and showered in sass, little Lydia pouted. “Maxwell, you’re not being a very good Junior Counselor,”

“And you’re not getting pudding if you tell me how to do my freakin’ job,” Max had clearly been trying to curb his tongue around the campers. “Look, kid, I’m all about your dream but why did you put me and Nik in the leads?”

The campers all began to giggle, and unfortunately, only one of the Junior Counselors seemed to get why.

Nikki bit her lip, trying not to laugh along with them, while Max seemed to scowl.

“This is public humiliation, isn’t it? I knew you little bastards were cruel, but this is a new low,”

“All the world is a stage, you must be prepared to act at any moment!” Lydia exclaimed, pointing at the teenager up on the stage.

Max frowned, shoving his phone back into his cargo shorts. “Fine, but I told you, I don’t sing,”

Nikki scooted a bit out of her position, gently elbowing her fellow counselor in the side. “Aw, c’mon, Max, I’ve seen you go pretty hard on karaoke night,” she said in between giggles.

“ _Nikki!_ ”

“What?”

The entire group of campers began to laugh, and Max frowned while Nikki said to the kids, “You get a couple of Red Bulls into this guy, he’s crazy,”

“Jesus H. Christ on a bike, enough throwing me under the bus, let’s just do the damn show!” Max yelled, but not without a smirk towards Nikki. Once the kids dispersed, shuffling to their roles, he reached out to punch her in the shoulder. “I’m gonna get you back for that,”

“Ooh, I’m so scared,” Nikki teased. “With what, Maxie? I’m an open book,”

Max rolled his eyes and lowered his voice; “I could tell them the story of how you wet your pants during the horror movie marathon—”

“Preston spilled his tea on me, I told you!” Nikki groaned.

“No one believes that,” Max said, with his typical impish smirk.

As Lydia bossed around her peers, the two young counselors continued to bicker.

“Whatever, that’s not even that bad of a story,” Nikki retorted. “I’ve done way weirder stuff. Like that time Nurf dared me to eat a pancake off the ground,”

Max gave a so-so motion with his hand. “You got five bucks out of it, so not that bad,” He let out a soft phew of a huff, grabbing all of his long dreadlocks into a fist and wrapping them back with the green and yellow Camp Campbell rubber band he kept on his wrist.

Rolling her bright pink eyes, Nikki found the argument of “Yeah, but—” dying on her lips.

But what?

What was she saying?

She was trying to remember other hilarious, gross, weird stories and things they had been through. And they all fizzled out.

She was probably scatterbrained from the heat.

It had nothing to do with the fact Max was now following the instructions of Lydia, standing a bit closer to Nikki, the two of them leaning up against the makeshift balcony—which was actually just a piece of broken fence found at the end of camp.

It was quiet when the spotlight fell on them.

Perched in her lawn chair with the word ‘ **Director** ’ spray painted on it, and using a funnel as a megaphone, Lydia called out, “Action!”

“This is so fucking stupid,” Max whispered to Nikki, with a small shake of his head.

And one of the other campers reached for the decrepit boombox, pressing the play button…

...only for a fast-paced old school hip-hop track to blast out of the speakers, rather than the elegant orchestra music that should have been playing.

“Tanner!” Lydia shrieked, standing on her chair and glaring at the boy in charge of the music.

The boy’s reply was just him lowering his sunglasses and dabbing.

Letting out a dramatic shriek, Lydia kicked the boombox over and yanked the extension cord, shutting off the music. Much to the disappointment to Tanner and all the other campers who had started to dance to the song.

“You amateurs,” Lydia huffed, before yelling through her funnel. “Without the music! Improvise!”

Max and Nikki glanced at each other for a minute before Max cleared his throat and looked her dead in the eye, not once losing his serious expression, as he asked, “Hey, girl, you wanna get out of here and ditch that Phantom loser?”

Nikki rolled her eyes dramatically. “I can’t, I have to be a singer,” She shrugged sadly. “Even though I totally wish I could do something more hardcore, like MMA,”

Lydia slumped in her chair, whining about she’d never earn a Tony by the age of seventeen if this kept up.

“Well, good luck with that shit,” Max said, letting go of Nikki’s hand. Had he been holding it the whole time? Was he supposed to? Nikki wasn’t sure, she barely skimmed the script... “I’m not gonna be a douche and persuade you to be with me, do your own thing or whatever—”

“Stop, _stop, **stop**_!”

Max groaned. “Finally,”

Running her hands over her face exasperatedly, Lydia was stomping away to find her beloved CD while the other campers chatted and the two junior counselors awkwardly stood on the stage, not sure of what to do.

“She’s gonna be pissed when she finds out I fed the music to Platypus,” he grumbled.

“Max!” Nikki gasped, smacking her fellow counselor on the arm.

“Hey, he was already trying to eat it, so I put the disk out of it’s misery,” Max defended. “I’ll get her a new digital copy or something. Who uses CDs anymore anyway?”

Nikki shook her head. “We gotta take this job as junior counselors seriously! We need to motivate these kids to have as much fun as possible at each of their respective camps!” she beamed. “They need to make the same crazy memories we did when we were that little!”

Max looked at her, raising an eyebrow—and his piercing glimmering in the bright afternoon sunlight.

“Did David fucking brainwash you?” he deadpanned.

“No,”

“Uh-huh,”

They still stood close, leaning up against the makeshift balcony. They didn’t have to hold hands this time… and they weren’t, not exactly, but the ‘balcony’ railing was short and they were leaning against it so maybe their hands overlapped.

Nikki was so over the dumb feelings she had been struck with ever since she was about thirteen.

She knew dumb feelings got girls in trouble. That’s what she grew up believing.

And here Nikki was now, at sixteen. Dumb feelings still plaguing her. Dumb feelings making her like how Max’s hand was bigger than hers, but gentle as he kept it lazed over hers—their touches equally rough, her glittery green nail polish already chipping off, his knuckles bruised and bloodied from punching trees (‘ _anger management_ ’ as he had dubbed it).

“Alright, alright, I need my Raoul and Christine in character this time!” Lydia said. “We’re not doing the song, we’ll do something else!”

Max rolled his eyes and Nikki snapped, giving a finger gun his way.

“C’mon, Max,” she reassured him. “It’ll be fun,”

“Damn, Nicolette, you are a bad actress but an amazing liar,” he smirked.

Nikki punched him in the arm. “Hey, warn me next time,” she joked. “But seriously,”

Max just gave her a cheeky smile and did his best to listen to Lydia’s ranting and demands. When her dramatic little rant was over, and she called for places again, Nikki nudged Max one more time.

“Hey,” She surprised herself at how soft she sounded.

“Yo,” came Max’s reply, glancing at her.

Nikki felt words trap in her throat, tangle and there were the dumb feelings again.

Why did a stupid boy, why did Max, tilting his head make her feel all dumb?

“I, uh,” She shrugged. “I think we make a good couple,” She gave an awkward chuckle. “Even if this script sucks,”

Max snorted. “Understatement of the goddamn century,”

Nikki felt her face go hot and she assured herself that it was the record heat. Which she would have to deal with. All summer long.


	3. {2} i brought you coffee

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Max and Nikki have a chat over coffee. And David almost drowns.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> yes i know you all signed up for fluff but there must be some slight pain too  
> just read it  
> xx  
> i love and adore every one of you who comment, kudos, bookmark, etc.!
> 
> ~reagan

Nikki really hadn’t meant to eavesdrop. She just stopped and accidentally found herself listening. That was different. And it’s not like there was anything to eavesdrop. It was just small talk. She just awkwardly stood in the doorway of the cabin, rocking back and forth on her heels until she heard, “Hey, is that Nikki?”

Glancing over his shoulder, and exposing the computer screen where Gwen’s face was, Max grinned.

“Fucking stalker,” he joked.

“It’s not stalking if you want it,” Nikki retorted, practically sashaying into the room and plopping herself in the taped-up office chair next to Max’s.

Gwen smirked. “You two drive David crazy yet?” she asked.

Max scoffed. “Give me time to work on my master plan, geez. You can’t rush perfection,”

“Alright, alright,” she said, with a wave of her hand. “Tell him I’m gonna call him tonight, okay? I miss him and all that other cheesy shit,”

Feigning a gag, Max rolled his eyes. “Tell David you’re gonna have video sex tonight. Got it,”

Nikki snorted and Gwen could only shrug in response before the screen went black, with a little green phone icon floating around. A moment’s silence passed — but not quite silence. Not silence if Max was tapping his needed-to-be-trimmed nails on the desk and Nikki was gently bouncing her leg, lightly thumping the leg of the table every now and then.

Finally, she cleared her throat and opened her backpack, holding out two thermoses with the Camp Campbell logo scratched off.

“I got the good stuff,” she trilled.

“You finally went into town, used that fake ID Nurf gave you and got us booze?” Max said, with a playful twinkle in his eye.

Nikki scoffed, ignoring the twinkle, ignoring how Max’s eyes seemed more emerald than turquoise in the afternoon sunlight coming from the window—dumb feelings, dumb feelings, dumb feelings get girls in trouble.

“Shut up,” she blurted out. Was that to Max or her thoughts? She wasn’t sure. “I brought you coffee, duh,”

She held out one of the thermoses and Max gladly accepted it.

He uncapped it and began to chug without thinking, but he nearly spit it out after one sip. Dumb feelings led to dumb actions. “Jesus fuck, Nik, what is this?! Nothing but creamer?!” He held the bottle out to her and she bit her lip, trying to not laugh at his shocked, borderline betrayed expression.

“My bad,” she said, giving him the other one. “That’s mine,”

“Yeah, I could tell from the way it tasted like a melted down candy bar,” he grumbled, taking the proper thermos, topped off with black coffee with one sprinkle of sugar.

David had once joked that symbolized who Max was as a person.

Nikki sometimes found that to be both true and amusing. But she was going to stop thinking about Max now.

(She wanted to smack herself. She had said that at the beginning of the summer. Who decided being sixteen was the year of being dumb and feeling dumb and—)

“Seriously, you of all people don’t need coffee,” Max grinned over the rim of his cup.

“And you do?” Nikki retorted, finally taking a sip of her coffee.

Max nodded. “Something’s gotta keep me from being totally dead inside,”

She rolled her eyes at him, and was completely unaware of the caramel creamer mustache left over from drinking. She leaned back in the chair, tapping the beat-up, scratched thermos and peered out the window. It was uncharacteristically cool for late June, but served no complaints from anyone. David had taken charge for a swim break, watching the kids from the dock…

...and neglecting to notice some of the campers setting up a tripwire so he would fall in the lake…

“Man, they’re gonna kill him,” Max sighed, pretending to wipe away imaginary tears. “Remember when that was us, Nik? We taught them well,”

“Well, you taught them that one,” Nikki said. “You wouldn’t let me teach them The Banana Split—”

He raised a thick eyebrow at her. “Since when do we name our antics?”

She beamed, her smile so wide that it almost stretched the bandage on her chin off, and giggled. “I do!”

“God, you’re fucking weird,”

The way he said it, she knew it wasn’t an insult. She knew he said it from a place of affection. A place of—yeah, affection. That was it. Nikki embraced the statement and stuck her tongue out at him, laughing when Max swiped at her, smearing the creamer on her upper lip.

Dumb feelings.

Dumb feelings struck her like a bee sting, again.

Fuck.

She sipped coffee to keep herself from saying anything. It was even better when Max spoke up, “Gwen said she’ll be back next year,”

“She doesn’t like the nursing thing?” Nikki asked.

“No, she does,” Max assured. “She just said she needs a break from it and wants to make sure me and David don’t kill each other. Which is code for she misses us but she doesn’t wanna be sappy and dumb about it,”

Nikki feigned a gag. “Gross,” she trilled. “You guys are a dumb, gross family,”

Max smiled. Genuinely. No smirk or ulterior motive to be had. “I know. I fucking hate it,”

Code for, he loved it. He loved having a real, true family who cared for him.

Pushing back his chair, tilting back just enough, Max rested his worn out bright blue high tops on the top of the desk and around his sip of coffee mumbled, “How’s your mom?”

Nikki fiddled with the top of her thermos and shrugged.

“Neil said you and him threw a fucking party when your parents divorced,”

“Yeah,” Her voice was suddenly softer. Further away.

Max’s face softened, as it only did in private, in serious situations, for those close to him. “What’s wrong?” he asked. “Are you gonna start asking for ranch on Oreos and tell me I’m a selfish bastard?” His quip at a joke didn’t work.

Nikki shook her head. “No, it’s not that,” she said. “I just don’t want to talk about that,”

“Damn, why? Are you sad that the garbage fire got put out?” Max’s joking attempts were valiant but fell flat.

“No,” Nikki groaned. “Do you know why they divorced?”

Max shrugged. “Because they shouldn’t have hooked up in the first place?”

Nikki downed the rest of her coffee and slammed down the thermos like she just took a powerful shot. “Because my mom cheated on Carl,”

“Oh, fuck,” Max said. “Neil was serious? I thought he was joking,”

“Yeah, no,” Nikki kicked her feet up next to Max’s; his high tops and her Timberlands. She gently nudged him, clearly deflated from the topic. But the look he gave her was… almost sympathetic. “I love my mom, but I hate how she acts sometimes,”

Max nodded.

They both fondly remembered how oblivious Nikki used to be about her mother. And then they all grew up and got fucked up, because they grew up and their eyes were opened.

“Gwen and David can adopt you if you get sick of her,” Max smirked.

“Carl’s already offered,” Nikki replied, her smile growing as the words went from somber to sweeter.

Max grinned, reaching out to place a hand on Nikki’s skinned knee — she thought it would be funny to ride one of the kid’s bikes and ‘do a BMX’, aka attempt to pop a wheelie — and he opened his mouth.

But he was interrupted by a loud yelp outside, followed by cheering.

“They got him!” Max beamed, practically tumbling out of his seat and running to the window.

Nikki was right on his heels and they threw open the window of the counselor’s cabin, pointing and laughing at the sight of David, in the lake fully clothed with campers hanging on him and trying to make his job harder than usual. Or drown him. Perhaps a bit of both.

Max stuck his fingers in his mouth and whistled loudly. “Get him, kids!” he cheered. “Make him put up a fight!”

“Max! Nikki! Help!” David yelled, quite helplessly.

“We are gonna help him, right?” Nikki whispered.

Max lightly nodded. “Yeah, but I just wanna watch this for a few minutes,” he chuckled.

Whatever heavy feeling plagued Nikki just a few moments ago was gone. She felt light. She felt happy. She felt content. Whatever waited her back home, she didn’t quite care.

For these few weeks, she could care about getting David a life jacket.

She could care about all the fun she’d have.

She… could maybe care about dumb feelings. Just for the summer.

She could care about Max, maybe in a different way than usual.


	4. {3} i did it

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> It's a night of drinking, daring and dumb stuff.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> this is by far probably my fave chapter and might end up being the longest  
> thanks so much for all your praise  
> enjoy!
> 
> ~reagan

The almost elderly, borderline decrepit stationwagon creaked and groaned with every movement between the trees. Max kept one hand on the clutch, the other held out to keep the goods in the front seat from falling. Steering was something he could just wing every now and then. Nikki sat in the back seat, keeping watch with a pair of ridiculously huge binoculars, stolen from the Spy Camp gear (and were questionable when it came to reliability).

“You see anything?” he whispered, despite no need for it.

“Nope!” Nikki chirruped. “Just a couple of racoons—ooh, it’s Princess Plastics and her girlfriend, Duchess of the Dumpster!”

Max snorted out a small laugh. “Did they make it official and marry to unite their garbage kingdoms yet?”

Nikki shook her head, her wild curls coming loose from the space buns she had tied them into. “Nope, they wanna keep things casual,” she said. 

“Huh. Smart,” Max mused, steering with his knee towards a clearing.

Lake Lilac in itself was an impressive piece of land, which meant there were plenty of places to hide and sneak away to. This night was something that had been in the making for a while, and finally, they had the chance to seize the night.

Two six packs of hard lemonade (they really had to thank Nurf for those fake IDs) and an extra large olive and pepperoni pizza sat next to Max, sneakily purchased during the last in town run they had to do earlier that day for  _ another _ First Aid kit.

And as Max parked near the beach, it was clear to see where the lake got it’s name.

Under the moonlight and endless stars, on this cool summer night, the water almost seemed a hue of purple.

“We did it!” Nikki cheered, almost bouncing out of the stationwagon and doing a little twirl once she was on the sand.

Max smirked and held up their goods. “That we did, my dear Nicolette,” he said, feigning a haughty accent.

Playing along, Nikki did a terrible imitation of a curtsy. “Well then, my fair Maxwell, whatever shall we do tonight?” she replied in one of the most horrid imitations of a British accent ever.

Plopping the pizza down on the hood and ripping open the box of drinks, Max grinned.

“We get wasted,” he declared. “Because we fucking deserve it,”

Nikki let out a loud whoop, spinning in place—a bright blur, due to her pale skin and neon pink shorts and bright yellow Camp Campbell junior counselor t-shirt—before falling down, flat on her back and staring up at the sky.

She giggled, folding her arms over her chest and smiled when Max leaned over her, holding out a can.

“They’re piss warm but they get the job done,” he sighed, sitting down next to her, one box of drinks under his arm and the pizza in one hand. “You get sand in the food and I’m throwing you in the lake,”

“That’s supposed to be a threat?” Nikki asked as she stumbled to sit up. “I wanna go for a swim later. We do have the whole night,”

Max popped open a hard lemonade for himself, giving a shrug. “Knock yourself out,” he said. “I’m not going in there. Heard the Woodshits lost their ‘pet’ manta ray,”

“So?” Nikki mumbled around a slice. “I speak whale. I’m sure manta ray isn’t that far off,”

“Making nasty ass sex noises isn’t whale noises,” Max said, throwing an olive at her—

—that she managed to catch in her mouth, playfully grinning at him.

Max nodded. “I’m impressed,” he mused. 

Nikki gingerly sipped her drink, eyeing the lake. It wasn’t exactly lilac, but more of an aubergine. The origins of the lake’s unnatural color late at night remained a mystery, but it certainly was beautiful. And the still breeze of a summer night made her frizzy curls drift, tickling her cheeks. Here she was. Sitting on a beach, with a forest behind her, downing drinks she shouldn’t have yet and enjoying… a moment with… with one of her best friends.

Max was already on his third slice and cracking open a second lemonade; while Nikki just sat there. Unnaturally still for her.

“Earth to Nikki?” Max spoke up, throwing a pepperoni slice at her.

She was so spaced out that she let the piece of manufactured meat smack her in the chest, the grease staining her shirt. 

“Hey!” Nikki pouted. “Oh, well. Still good,” She popped the slice in her mouth and sought revenge, throwing a piece of crust—Max never ate his crusts, the dumb dorks—at him.

Max dodged it, childishly sticking his tongue out. 

The hole from his failed attempt at a tongue piercing last year still remained, making Nikki giggle.

“I kinda wish Neil was here, y’know,” he said. “Even though he probably wouldn’t shut up about how we’re gonna get caught and that drinking is a bad idea and blah blah blah, other nerd shit,”

“Yeah,” Nikki agreed. “But he just had to graduate high school early and get that dumb scholarship to Stanford,”

Max smirked, crushing his can against the boulder he leaned against. “Fucking nerd,”

“The nerdiest,” Nikki agreed, fiddling with the tab of her drink. 

It really did feel a bit off without the final piece of their team. Nikki had once dubbed them as the Three Musketeers, only for Neil to correct that technically, there were four…

...he was a stickler and a lot to handle, but he was fun and he completed them.

“Maybe next year,” Max sighed, kicking off his black flip flops—next to Nikki’s yellow ones that had been abandoned since they set foot on the beach.

“Yeah, maybe next year,” Nikki echoed, grabbing another slice and biting down, stretching the cheese as far she could.

Only for Max to so rudely flick the strand, breaking it and making Nikki pout.

“Hey! You’re just mad I was gonna beat your record!” 

“You can’t beat ten and a half inches, Nik,” he retorted.

Nikki huffed, and looking quite silly as she pouted while nibbling on her pizza. Well, more silly than usual. That was the thing about Nikki, Max was often reminded. She was always silly and odd and something else. The heat made her hair frizz more than usual, her space buns truly going out of this world now, and all the sun she had been getting made some freckles he didn’t know she had stand out—

—and maybe it was the drinks that made her retort back with a dirty joke, “Bet you I could totally take ten and a half,”

Or maybe it was the drinks that made Max take it in a dirty manner.

Or maybe it was the way Nikki smirked and winked when she said it.

He cleared his throat, and just shrugged. Not quite taking note of how Nikki turned away and if he asked, she’d blame her red cheeks on the booze.

She made a mental note to only have one or two.

She saw how… dumb her mom got after more than one or two. And when girls got dumb, they did dumb things. And dumb things led to all sorts of things.

Nikki hated growing up. When she was a kid, when she first started out at this camp?

She didn’t have to worry about those sorts of things.

“Hey,” Max mumbled, a soft punch making contact with Nikki’s shoulder. “What the fuck? Are you crying?”

“No!” Nikki instinctively blurted out. “I— I am? I’m not! I’m not crying,” She reached out for another drink, the last one in the box. Fuck dumb things. Fuck her mom. Fuck feelings. She was sixteen, it was summer, and she had her best friend.

Max backed off, giving her a sideways glance. A soft  _ okay _ made it past his lips, and he gave Nikki a wary look when she popped open the drink, beginning to chug.

“Easy, Nik, don’t hurt yourself,”

“Double Dare,” was her reply.

“What?” Max practically spluttered. “You want to play that  _ now _ ?”

Their twisted version of Truth or Dare, made many summers ago when they were just campers themselves, a bunch of stupid twelve-almost-thirteen year olds. It was one dare or a different one, no way out.

Nikki nodded. “Let’s do it,”

Max scratched at his stubble, he forgot to shave this morning, and nodded thoughtfully.

“Catch a fish with your bare hands or steal the Flower Scouts flag,” he said.

“You trying to kill me, Maximoo?” Nikki scoffed, staggering to her feet. “I’m not going back to jail,” She flipped off the general direction of the Flower Scouts campground—the lilac and pink flag limp on the flagpole.

Max shrugged. “Then go fish, Nicolette,”

But… Maximoo. That was new. Pretty fucking stupid. But new. She usually opted for Maxwell, Maxie and sometimes Maxine when she wanted to annoy him.

“Any certain kind?” she asked.

“Just get a damn fish,” he scoffed. 

But his bitter expression suddenly fell, morphing into something different, something of surprise when he watched Nikki. He awkwardly just sat there, his hand sweaty from the can (not the situation), as Nikki stripped off her shirt and shorts. She wore a mismatched set. A neon orange bra—she sure liked her highlighter colors—and blue and white striped boyshorts.

She waded into the tide, peering into the water, making weird gurgling noises… like she’d actually summon any fish that way.

Max focused on the stars.

Not that the fact his childhood best friend was a bombshell.

Okay. He knew Nikki was pretty. 

He liked the female species. And it was hard to not notice Nikki had certainly grown into some looks over the years.

He caught himself looking once in a while. At her soft cheekbones, her bright pink eyes, her wide smile that had just one or two crooked teeth. He never really noticed… everything else.

This was fucking  _ weird _ . And he was going to blame the booze on it.

“Does a crawfish count?” Nikki hollered.

“No! A fish is a damn fish!” Max said. “C’mon, just find something!”

He shoved all the empty cans into the box, heading back to the car to grab the other case. He focused on the night of relaxation that they deserved after the weeks of dealing with wild, crazy kids and listening to David. 

Just a night of relaxation and your standard teenage rebellion with one of his best friends.

“Hey, I got one!” Nikki beamed, running back to the beach with… something.

Max was a camp counselor, not a fucking park ranger. The fish flopped in Nikki’s grip, and she baby-talked to it, and apparently named it already.

“Okay, Roger, okay, calm down, buddy, I’ll put you back,” She made kissy noises. “Max just wanted to say hi,”

“Hi,” Max grumbled. “Now get that fucking thing away from me,”

Nikki rolled her eyes. “Don’t make me _ Colors of The Wind _ your ass,” she retorted. “Nature is fun! And weird! And awesome!”

“Yeah, yeah, I know, just like you,” Max smirked.

A giggle escaped Nikki, a murmur of  _ yeah _ in agreement, before she stopped and the statement registered in her buzzed mind. Roger the fish flopped around in her hand—and she let him go, letting him flop back towards the tide.

Max cleared his throat. “What? Can’t say my best friend is fucking awesome? I don’t know anyone else who would do half the crazy shit you do,”

“Oh. Heh, yeah,” Nikki muttered, instantly rebounding and back to her normal peppy self. “Your turn!”

“Don’t make me eat a worm again,” 

“That was two years ago—”

“Yeah, and I think I have fucking PTSD from that incident,”

Nikki huffed, waving a hand. “Swim with me for five minutes or cut off your dreads,”

A loud gasp escaped Max and he dropped the box of drinks, letting it land between them. He narrowed his eyes at her. “You bitch,” And his cruel comeback was met with one of Nikki’s sweet but also somewhat deranged giggles.

“But I’m your bitch,” Nikki almost trilled.

Her comebacks were less witty and more dumb. It was due to the drinks. Right?

She cleared her throat, hoping Max wouldn’t make the already dumb joke even dumber. He didn’t, and just let out an exasperated sigh, peeling off his white tank top. He threw it towards the small pile that was Nikki’s clothes, and tossed his phone and wallet out of his pockets.

“Let’s go swimming,” he muttered.

Nikki cheered, grabbing Max’s hand—his knuckles weren’t bloody, just scabbed, so anger management must have been doing him some good—and dragging him into the lake.

He groaned and grumbled something about the fish and maybe something about radioactivity too.

But a dare was a dare.

“Race you to Spooky Island and back?” Nikki offered.

“The deal is one dare,” Max shot back, his skinny, almost six foot frame towering over her in the water she was now treading.

Nikki rolled her eyes. “I’m not daring you, Maxie, I’m just having fun,” She accentuated her point by splashing him a little.

To which Max decided to get a little revenge and splash her back—much more forcefully, making Nikki yelp.

“Hey!”

“Get what you give,”

Looming below the water for just a second, and then popping back up to spit water in his face, Nikki practically cackled as Max yelped, “Oh, fuck you!”

“Whatever happened to get what you give?” she grinned.

Max’s smirk turned to a devious grin and suddenly, he dived in close to Nikki. She wasn’t confused or disturbed, she trusted Max, but she wasn’t exactly sure what he was doing. Not until his grip was on her waist and he was slinging her over his shoulders.

Nikki squealed and began to kick. “Maaax!” she whined. “Put me down!”

“Sorry, what was that?” Max asked, spinning around best he could. 

“Put me down!” Nikki yelped in between giggles, burying her face into his drenched dreadlocks. 

Oh-no. No, no, she wasn’t worried about how they were in a deep end, a part of the lake that Max was almost treading water in. She wasn’t worried about whether or not he’d drop her. Max was surprisingly strong despite his lanky appearance. She wasn’t worried about getting caught.

She was worried about the weird way her cheeks got hot and her heart got faster when she was nestled on Max’s shoulders.

How she couldn’t stop burying herself closer in his hair, that smelled of musky offbrand cologne and his tropical shampoo and maybe a little sweat but that was okay.

That she didn’t mind his hands, rough in texture but gentle in action, were on her.

“You want down now?” Max asked, in an almost baby voice. 

“Yea—”

Nikki couldn’t even finish her answer, when suddenly, lights were on them. Max dropped Nikki and went under the water, and she followed suit.

Fuck. 

No one just casually fished on Lake Lilac. So it was someone they knew.

Max held his breath long as he could, dodging a glance to Nikki, who could only shrug in response.

No blinding pink logo of the Flower Scouts. No army ensign of the Woodscouts. They both loomed under the water long as they could before they popped up. And felt instantly embarrassed at who had found them.

“When the fuck did we get a boat?!” Max asked.

David crossed his arms and stood on the front dock. “We’ve always had it for emergencies,” he said. “And when both of my junior counselors aren’t in their cabin, that’s an emergency,”

Nikki awkwardly waved. “Hi, David,”

“Hello there, Nikki,” David sighed. “Now, which one of you had the idea to sneak out and go skinny-dipping?”

“C’mon, David, give us some credit, we’re mostly clothed,” Max grumbled.

He got a smack upside the head from Nikki and winced. He rubbed the spot she smacked, before clearing his throat.

Although, before he could even move his lips, Nikki beat him. 

“I did it,” she said. “It was me,” She kept treading water, and hung her head. She barely smiled when the fish tickled her ankle. “I thought it’d be fun to go out. Didn’t think you’d find us,”

David shook his head. “You guys could have just asked,” he sighed.

Max nodded somberly, as did Nikki.

“Meet me back at the cabin in ten. This was your warning,”

They nodded again. And as the boat sputtered off, Max couldn’t help but holler, “You can’t fire your son!”

David slowed down a bit, and yelled back, “No, but I can make Quartermaster your new sidekick!” — laughing, as he clearly heard Max’s groan.

The swim back to shore was awkward. No other way to describe it. The thrill of sneaking out, the fun of a summer night with two friends ( _ just friends, just friends, just friends _ , Nikki chanted in her mind,  _ don’t look at Max, don’t say anything _ ), and the happy little bubble they were in had been popped.

“Hey,” Max said softly when they began to pack up what was left of their drinks and food.

Nikki picked up their clothes and only stumbled a little bit in her walk. “Yeah?”

He looked back at her, while awkwardly scratching the back of his neck. “Why did you take the rap for me?”

“What do you mean?” she almost scoffed. “This was both our idea,”

“Yeah, but,” Max’s shoulders slumped. “David’s probably gonna give you a dumb lecture and probably put you on kitchen duty for a few days. And I know you hate kitchen duty,”

Nikki was not going to be dumb about this. She refused to be. She swung her flip flops back and forth in one hand, clothes slung over her shoulder. “It’s not that big a deal,” she mumbled. “I know you would really hate working with QM. You’re always convinced he’s gonna stab you,”

Max’s bright eyes were like a beacon, like a lighthouse on the edge of a cape.

“Yeah, but,” The words fell flat on his tongue and he cleared his throat. “You wanna drive? I’m way too drunk,”

“Sure,” Nikki mumbled, taking the keys from his hand.

Maybe she lingered for a second. Maybe she liked that weird mix of rough and gentle that was Max’s grip against her own.

And maybe he liked how soft Nikki felt, despite her tough and wild demeanor.

Maybe he held onto her for a brief second. But maybe they were both too buzzed to notice.

She took the keys and headed for the driver’s seat, not realizing Max stood there on the beach, lingering for a few moments.

“She’s your best friend,” slipped past his lips, without him realizing he even said it.

He stared up at the night sky, clouds now drifting over the crescent moon. A soft mumble of a  _ fuck  _ escaped him—and he jumped when Nikki beeped the horn.

Despite their fun being ruined, it was still a night to remember.


	5. {4} i wanna run away with you

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The Fourth of July is right around the corner. Phone calls, marshmallows and fireworks are all involved.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> so some lil notes/HC's i kinda just wanna spew out
> 
> —Nikki and Candy are from New Jersey.  
> —Camp Campbell/Lake Lilac is located in upstate New York.  
> —Max, Gwen and David live in a suburbian region near Philadelphia.
> 
> anyway that's dumb stuff. let's get onto the dumb kids and their dumb feelings, shall we? love y'all for loving this fic!
> 
> ~reagan

For the most part, Nikki considered herself to be a rule following counselor. Of course, the rules were pretty lenient to begin with—she was still wild and crazy, but she had grown to be a tad responsible over the years. Same went for Max.

Ten year old Max would have laughed in David’s face at the very thought of helping run the camp.

And now, six years later, he was helping the campers make macaroni and marshmallow necklaces for Arts-n-Crafts. Of course, with the condition he got to steal a handful of marshmallows from each camper.

So she figured now was a good time to sneak away with her phone.

The Quartermaster’s closet had the best reception for some odd reason, and the last place David would go for looking for her, and so she locked herself in there. Nikki slumped against the door, though, just for good measure.

And she dialed.

And she wasn’t surprised to get an answer on the first ring.

“Hey, baby,”

“Hey, Momma,” Nikki said, clearing her throat to avoid the shake in her voice. She was overdue for a call. She knew that. “How are you holding up?”

Candy hacked out a cough. She hadn’t quit smoking. She had promised.

“I’m still alive,” she chuckled. “How’s camp? You having fun with all the other kids?”

She wasn’t going to correct how this year she wasn’t a camper, she was a counselor. “Yup! We managed to actually organize all the different camps this year, so that’s good,” Nikki awkwardly tipped over a bucket and sat on it. “What are you doing for the Fourth?”

Nikki didn’t care about the parties. She cared about what her mom did at those parties.

“I dunno, probably go to the shore,” Candy said nonchalantly. “It’d be more fun if you were with me, Nicolette. Why you always insist on going to that dump every year anyway?”

Because her friends are here. Because she’s happy and free here. Because it’s a cheap getaway.

Because a lot of reasons.

Nikki let out a hesitant noise, almost like a meh noise. “I wanted to keep busy—”

“Oh, you could work in the casinos!” Candy scoffed. “I told you, Mikey offered you a job there,”

“Mikey?” Nikki groaned. “Mom, you said you dumped him,”

Candy mumbled a faint curse. There was a bang, a scream in the background. “It’s complicated, baby,” she said, her voice suddenly a lot softer. “Relationships are complicated, you know this,” A crash, a familiar crash of a bottle of sorts, was heard.

Now, normally Nikki was not easily scared.

She had gone into caves fearlessly. Laughed while being chased after wild animals. Gone to spooky islands in the dark. And even held her own in a fight once or twice.

But knowing her mom was all alone?

Well, maybe she was a little scared.

“Yeah, I know,” Nikki sighed. “But take care of yourself,”

“Uh-huh,” Candy mumbled absentmindedly.

Nikki tried to mumble a pathetic love you but the line was cut off. She was tempted to throw her phone but instead just shoved it in her pocket, stomping out of the closet. She didn’t even notice Quartermaster shake his hook at her, grumbling about ‘Stay outta my shed or you gonna end up dead’ — his threats were usually harmlessly creepy.

She went back to the Arts-n-Crafts table, but deflated a bit at noticing how the campers were cleaning up and Max was snacking on what was left of the marshmallows.

“Hey,” he said, holding out the bag to her.

She dug in, taking one and just staring at it. With nothing to say.

Max emptied the rest in his mouth, mumbling around the fluffy, white mess; “Who shit in your Cheerios this morning?”

“No one,” Nikki mumbled, before just pathetically dropping the marshmallow.

“You seem pretty fucking depressed,” he said, keeping his voice low. David had started up a Swear Jar of sorts—if any of the campers heard Max swear, he’d owe a dollar to that kid.

Nikki huffed. “It’s my mom,”

Max sneered a bit. “I know she’s your mom and all,” he mumbled, his statement trailing off.

“I know,” She nodded. And that was all either of them needed to say.

“Well,” Max said, rocking back and forth on his heels. “Tomorrow’s the Fourth. I could sneak out tonight and drive to the next state over, get some fireworks. We’ll do our usual?”

Nikki managed a shaky smile. “Yeah,” She felt herself smiling. “Can I come?”

A soft, hesitant mumble escaped Max and he winced a bit when Nikki grabbed his arm.

“Please?” she begged, almost yanking hard enough to release the arm out of it’s socket. “Please, please, please?”

Her fucking puppy eyes. Dammit.

Every single living soul under the sun was a sucker for Nikki’s wide, pretty pink eyes getting all pathetic and cute and dumb.

It took all of Max’s willpower to mumble, “No,”

“Please!” Nikki said, the word coming out in a laugh, now more of a tease than a beg. “I wanna run away with you! Get outta here!”

Her laughter grew louder when Max reached out and tried to cover her mouth. “Shut up! Don’t let David hear about our master plan to blow this joint!” They shoved and pushed against one another, laughing until they were out of breath.

Nikki eventually gave up, heaving out a breath and a smile all in one. “Are you positive I can’t come with?”

Max shook his head, his dreadlocks bouncing with each movement. “Nah. I owe you, for the night swimming incident,” He put up a hand once Nikki tried to argue further. “If David catches me, he catches me. But you know he won’t catch me,” He winked, which made her punch him in the forearm.

“Are you saying I slow you down, Maxie?” she chuckled.

“Hell no,” he declared. “I need my fellow agent of chaos. But,” He reached out, gently pushing a thick, frizzy curl out of Nikki’s face. “You gotta sit this one out.”

Nikki faltered for only a moment before smiling. “I’ll cover for you then?”

Max grinned like the Cheshire Cat on crack. The highest form of mischievousness. “See? What did I tell you? I need my fellow agent of chaos,” The way he repeated that statement, how he ruffled her hair afterwards.

It chased away whatever little storm clouds of sadness loomed over Nikki.

“But don’t do the pillow thing again,” he spoke up. “David’s not that stupid. We got lucky that one time,”

“Got it,” Nikki whispered, keeping her voice low as two of the campers trudged over.

One tugged on Max’s shorts, looking up with sad eyes before beginning to sign at a pace the two teen counselors could understand.

Max eyed Nikki, who nodded along as he spoke; “Donovan took your necklace and ate it?”

The other camper twirled a strand of his long hair around his fingers. “And I punched him about it because Taye is too nice to stand up for themself,” he mumbled, kicking a pebble. His companion, Taye, nodded and wrung their hands one over the other.

“Oh,” Nikki said, dragging out the word. “That explains that,”

She pointed across the campground, where a small fight had broken out and David was clearly trying to pry the kids apart.

“Aw, c’mon, guys, what did I say?!” Max hollered, throwing his hands in the air. “No wrestling unless we can make a profit off it!”

“Max, don’t encourage them!” David yelled, with a fussy, screaming Lydia in his arms.

She had her sequined jacket torn and a black eye, yelling about how she would get vengeance. Rather intense for such a little girl. Nikki held back a laugh, and Max shrugged, almost helplessly so.

“I’ll do crowd control, you do first aid?” he asked.

“Sounds like a plan,” she beamed.

Nikki took the hand of wounded little Taye and led them to the mess hall.

She ignored the brief little buzzes of her phone. She knew her mom was fine if it was just texts. For now? For now, Nikki just wanted to enjoy her summer.

Light some fireworks on the rooftop with her best friend.

Her best friend, who was a smart mouth and strong and surprisingly sweet despite his sourpuss attitude.

Her best friend, who did make her feel dumb. And complicated. But this sort of dumb and complicated was scaring Nikki less and less. Or at least, she didn’t want it to scare her. So, as she gently tended to Taye’s swollen eye, she told herself to stop being scared.

Easier said than done.

Once more, with feeling. Nikki did not get scared easily.

She’d never know why daunting adventures seemed so easy and real life seemed so scary.

**Author's Note:**

> this fic is made possible by comments like you!
> 
> ~reagan


End file.
